More than 60 Democratic congressmen on Tuesday asked the government of President Joe Biden to stop subjecting asylum seekers to “credible fear interviews” while in custody after crossing the borderin a letter to which AFP had access.
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When a migrant wants to apply for asylum upon arrival in the United States, they must undergo so-called “credible fear interviews,” in which they assess whether there is a possibility that the person will be persecuted or tortured if they return to their country. If they conclude that it exists, an immigration process is launched and you must appear before a judge.
Otherwise, he is expelled through “expedited deportation”, as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) warns.
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When in May he lifted a sanitary norm that allowed blocking the majority of migrants at the border, andhe Biden government decided to expedite the processing of asylum applications while migrants were in the custody of the border patrol.
He then promised that migrants would have access to a lawyer, but reality seems to contradict him.
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In a letter, the congressmen call on the Secretary of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, and the Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to “immediately stop” the practice of conducting in-custody assessments.
Asking them to undergo interviews just one day after arrival is “inherently problematic” because the traumas are recent and take place at Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facilities, they added.
These credible fear interviews are conducted over the phone with the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). If the asylum seekers do not pass them, which usually happens, they can request right after that an immigration judge reviews the case, but also by phone and in the same place.
The congressmen also criticize the difficulties “in access to a lawyer”, which is only allowed through the same telephone booths.
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As a consequence, the vast majority are left without asylum and return “to the conditions from which they fled”, they affirm, and remember that “due process is a right”, as is facilitating access to a lawyer.
This same Tuesday, the National Immigrant Justice Center (NIJC) decided to suspend legal consultations and stop representing asylum seekers at border patrol facilities.
He says he has spent more than two months “trying to overcome the obstruction by the Biden administration that made it impossible to provide meaningful legal information and representation to most people seeking asylum under the new policies.”
AFP
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